| |
| |
|
Book Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Save This Page Book Talks: What to Say and How to Say It
Great! The Chamber of Commerce, or a similar group, has asked you to talk about your latest book. Though words are your business, you may terrified of public speaking. What should you say? How should you say it? These tips will help you to give a five-star book talk. Confirm arrangements. Mistakes happen and you don't want them to happen to you. One or two days before you're slated to speak, confirm the date, time, place, and your audiovisual needs. Toastmaster's International says you should visit the site beforehand. Make sure books will be available if you're autographing after your talk. Greet the audience. Arrive early and greet audience members as they enter the room or store. This gives you an instant connection with your audience and makes you an approachable person. Check the audience. According to the Advanced Public Speaking Institute, males and females respond differently to talks. Females laugh more easiily than males and "an all-male audience is more critical to bond [with] . . . especially if you're a famale speaker." Be prepared to make some last minute changes in your talk if you are female. Say thank you. Audience members have taken the time to come and hear you, so thank them for coming. Your thank you doesn't have to be long, but it does need to be sincere. Thank the person who invited you and other contact people. Keep your intro short. Eager as they may be to hear you, audience members don't want to listen to a long lead-in, or what a friend of mine calls the "When grandpa headed West in 1935" introduction. (He's very droll.) Get the audience's attention and cut to the chase - the body of your talk. Make points clear. Speech writers tell their clients to start by "telling them what you're going to tell them." You need to do the same. State the purpose of your talk and summarize your book in one sentence. (This is harder than it sounds.) As you speak you may wish to number your key points. Cite benefits. Though they may not say it aloud, every audience member is asking, "Why should I buy your book?" You should be able to answer this question quickly and clearly. Refer to your book by title, not "the book" and repeat the title several times. Tell stories. The audience won't remember statistics, but they will remember stories. Tell stories about being a writer or stories from your book. Keep in mind that story-telling isn't the same as joke-telling. If you're good at telling jokes include them in your talk. Avoid jokes if you can't remember punch lines. Keep their attention. The Advanced Public Speaking Institute says you should use an "attention gaining device" every two-to-four minutes. These devices include things like movement, showing a prop, distributing handouts, and delivering one-liners. You may also have a Power Point presentation that goes with your book. Have a strong ending. You want the audience to remember you and your book. So tell a touching story, or ask the audience to take action, or whisper your last line for impact. A change in approach can also be a strong ending. If you're giving a talk about a serious subject, for example, you could close on a humorous note. Remember, the audience thinks of your book talk as entertainment. Eddie Albert, the famous Hollywood actor, was a friend of my father-in-law's. I met Eddie several times and he called me once to thank me for a book I'd sent him. During our conversation Eddie said he was giving a talk about conservation that afternoon. The talk was finished, Eddie said, but he was still working on the entertainment aspect. "You have to entertain to educate," he commented. Good advice for us all. Copyright 2005 by Harriet Hodgson. All rights reserved. Harriet Hodgson has been a nonfiction writer for 27 years and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists. Her latest book, Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief, written with Lois Krahn, MD, is available on http://www.amazon.com. To learn more about her work go to http://www.harriethodgson.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Publisher vs Self-Publishing: 3 Book Publishing Strategies - 3x24 - Your Newspaper and News Magazine
Book-Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Book Promotion Myth -- The Best Place to Sell Books is a Bookstore When authors think of their audience buying books they think of bookstores. This myth sends authors taking the long, arduous road to seeking out an agent, a publisher, hoping their book will become a best seller. 19 Ways to Secure Non-Returnable Book Sales and Sell More Books Surprisingly, book stores are not always your greatest source of book sales. Most authors and publishers do want their books to be available in all of the book stores, and rightly so. Increase Book Sales: When a Book is No Longer Just a Book for Sale Do you have books sitting in your garage that you haven't sold yet and looking for ways to move them? Then you will want to know about these five outrageous ideas that aren't difficult and can be just plain out fun. Dede Hall, author of The Starving Student's Cookbook had very poor sales for her books. Speaking for a Publication Why write a book and get attention and loads of contacts?Expertise can sometimes be defined by the articles, columns, responses and books you write. It does not take a lot of effort to write the articles and columns but it does take effort to write a book. Ready, Set, Go Sell Your Book In The Real World! We hear a lot these days about more books actually being sold 'outside' the traditional bookstore. Think about it. Why Should I Buy your Book? How would you like to have countless people clamoring for your books and willing to visit your Web site to buy them? Most entrepreneurs wait until their Web site is designed before they think about marketing their products on it. What a shame! When someone asks you about your book, maybe you've said, "My book is about?. Never Pay Full Price for a Book! Are you an avid reader? Are you trying to instill a love of reading in your children?My whole family loves to read! Right before bedtime every night, every one of us can be found with our nose in a book!It would be very easy for us to spend a fortune every month on books. But, since we don't have a fortune to spend every month, over the years I've found several ways to get good books and never pay full price!1. 8 Ways to Find Good Reviewers for Your New Book Review Your Reviewer: You will be sorry if you do not take the time to get a pretty good picture of your reviewer. Use e-mail, snail mail or anything else you've got to pop a few questions to your reviewer. Top Ten Ways of Why and How to Write your Books Sales Letter - Part 1 Authors/publishers are great at getting their books written. But after the initial one-year honeymoon, sales slow down. Book Signing: Fun and Profit for Writers and Readers Have you ever walked into a bookstore when an author is scheduled to do a book signing and found no one in the audience? Do you shy away from autograph tables, perhaps fearing that someone may ask you to buy a book? Consider the other side of the equation. A book signing is an opportunity to learn about the author and what makes a person undertake the challenge of writing a book. The Booklet Journey Opening a New World 1991 was a pivotal year in my life. My professional organizing business was 8 years old. How To Get The Most From Your Free eBooks Marketing Campaign First, your ebook needs to have an attractive title. The title should grab the attention of your intended target audience. Best Selling Book Cover Design To get a book cover design may be expensive and painstaking one. Book cover and the layout of the inside pages should catch the eye of the readers in today's market. Marketing Virus - Every Writer Needs to Catch It For you writers aspiring to greatness, you might need a virus, before you can be great! You need a Marketing Virus. Every unknown writer needs a virus that will spread like the deadliest bug known to man. Increase Book Sales: When a Sale Is No Longer Just a Sale Do you have books sitting in your garage that you haven'tsold yet and looking for ways to move them? Then you willwant to know about these five outrageous ideas that aren'tdifficult and can be just plain out fun. Dede Hall, author of The Starving Student's Cookbook hadvery poor sales for her books. Sell More Books With an E-mail Newsletter NOTE: Because many words in this article are likely to trigger sp^m filters, we've disguised them with symbols (e.g. Raise Your Hand If Youd Consider Giving Up The Rights To Your Book Forever If Random House pulls up to your house with a U-haul filled with millions and wants to buy your book, maybe you'd consider giving up the rights forever. But, let's come back to the real world. Spend a Little Time, Get Free Books Online There's just something so gratifying about owning your own books and creating an in-home library. Not only does book ownership provide you with hours, and hours of escape and enrichment, a well-stocked library is a great heirloom for future generations. Top Ten Ways of Why and How to Write your Books Sales Letter - Part 2 Authors/publishers are great at getting their books written. But after the initial one-year honeymoon, sales slow down. Sell More Books With Your Sparkling Introduction Why write an introduction? Nobody reads it anyway. Up until now, this opinion has had clout.
|
